Lets start with some obvious truth. Cars & passenger cars are not eco-friendly to manufacture, regardless if they are powered by gasoline, diesel, propane, hydrogen, or battery electric.
Mining crude oil & refining it into transportation fuels not eco-friendly.
Making lithium-ion batteries by the billion using cobalt & lithium not eco-friendly. All the copper & computer chips in EV's are not eco-friendly to make. A typical light passenger EV or electric car results in the emissions of 10-20 tons of CO2. To offset the carbon footprint that EV has to be operated for 60,000 miles before its better than a similar emission controlled modern gasoline powered equivalent vehicle in terms of net total emissions.
Charging EV's with coal power plant electricity not eco-friendly.
Even natural gas peek-r plants release a lot of acid rain forming emissions and are not eco-friendly
Blocking large rivers with hydroelectric damns not eco-friendly
Again, there are no completely clean ways to make electricity for so many people at the same time. A more sustainable human population worldwide would be around 900 million people. To make a 6kw American Upper Middle Class lifestyle for everyone on Earth would require nuclear electric mining on a much grander scale than the fossil fuel mining today.
On a strong positive front, the high electrical energy levels available onboard common battery electric vehicles can enable the vehicle to provide backup power during power outages or while camping with bidirectional charge ports that can act as a power outlet to discharge power to external loads.
Heavy duty computers needed for Level 1 through Level 5 autopilot require a lot of electricity to do sensor fusion with so many channels of input from LIDAR, RADAR, SONAR, & MORE + the V2G & V2V vehicle to grid & vehicle to vehicle communication system use high wattage RF transmission & persistent always on 5G & 4G LTE for over-the-air-updates of EV software means that more wiring & electrical energy onboard needed for all of these electronics only possible on EV's because of the huge capacity energy storage batteries with many tens or hundreds of kilowatt hours of battery storage capacity that can energize so much compute & electronics & networking equipment.
EV' instant torque strips away tire tread faster than the torque from ICE vehicles which is softer or less hard on the tires, meaning EV's destroy tires faster, and tire tread erosion products are the leading source of microplastic emissions, that you can find in Polar Bear urine now, in human breast milk, the micro-plastics from worn away tire tread are everywhere as micro-fine particles known as micro-plastics.
EV batteries can and will be reused in stationary renewable energy storage applications to store rooftop PV module energy in homes with such systems, even in rural areas in low income areas where building codes allow cheap easy solar PV setups where large SLI 8D 12vdc 200ah truck batteries are widely utilized to store solar PV energy for later use via an inverter as 220vac 50hz around the world, so people in rural locals with out grid power can power up LTE intenet routers, microwaves, ovens, electric stoves, water boiling kettles, water heaters, appliances, phone chargers, laptops, TV and other COTS or consumer electronics.
In big cities the lack of tailpipe emissions makes the use of electric cars a benefit to public health by reducing local air pollution levels or smog from congested roadways with heavy traffic congestion. I am thinking of I405 during peak stop & go traffic times during the morning & evening commute.
In wealthy developing countries the average person's exposure to air pollutants comes from vehicle tailpipes near busy roads. I am thinking of large older diesel trucks without DPF filters or DEF injection that belch out stinky smoke & NOX and HC fumes & dust & soot that is toxic to human lung cells while also clogging up engine air intake filters & similar cabin HVAC filters, fouling dusk masks that people started wearing like chin diapers during the COVID19 pandemic for example.
Ever ride a bicycle up a steep hill when an old dirty diesel truck drives by belching out nasty sooty exhaust into the air you are huffing while puffing away pumping the pedals of your bicycle to climb the hill? I had such an experience as a 16 year old boy & thought about how the driver of that dirty emissions truck probably had no idea that he was hurting or annoying me with the exhaust emissions of his truck, an externality of enabling regular people to use commercial vehicles as daily drivers, a legislative problem needing to be solved. Just because I can buy a 3 MPG diesel dump truck as a daily driver doesn't mean doing so is wise or a good idea.
Driving a 9-passenger large SUV as a single person might not make good sense either, even if its battery electric, larger heavier vehicles are more emissions intensive no matter how they are powered.
Electric cars are not a practical personal transportation solution for 10 billion people. The only economical personal vehicle to make for 10 billion people an eBike.
We can make 10 billion eBike's or one for everyone. You're not everyone. I hate being cold & wet at the same time, so riding a bicycle, e-bike or not, doesn't sound fun during winter when its freezing cold or near freezing & raining. Riding a bicycle in area where 99.99% of the rest of people drive cars also not safe or even sane & probably very dangerous, similar to the risks of riding a motorcycle in traffic with trucks & SUV's and so many low skill drivers, some of whom are not fit to be driving a car, drunk, high, tired, sic, mental, under trained, newbie low skill drivers & worse.
We have to have different solutions for different people. Not all people want the same things. People are each unique & special, but all want similar things. Somewhere to live, to call home, someone to love, something to believe in, a sense of belonging, a sense of meaning or purpose, something to eat or drink, clothing, shelter, water, food, the basics. Even making the basics for 10 billion people not eco-friendly to eco-systems or nature.
Making EV batteries
Consider the supply chain for lithium & cobalt, the underdeveloped countries with underpaid labor using diesel mining equipment. Solar PV modules are not eco-friendly to make because of the high temperatures needed to melt silicon into ingots to cut into PV wafers later ion bombarded to create the P N junction band-gap so solar energy can be captured by silver wires to use a current flow to power electrical loads, like a vacuum cleaner, or laptop power adapter. Mining silver not eco-friendly, so the power collecting wires in PV modules not eco-friendly or cheap either.
Human activity itself not eco-friendly. When 100,000 people attend an event, the area is trashed by some percentage of the people who are rude & inconsiderate. Thoughtless inconsiderate people throw trash out of their vehicle windows into roadways & nature. In every country there are bad actors.
Not everyone is a good person. Some people are bad people and have to be kept in jails or prisons because of how they senselessly hurt others with crime or violence. Some people are unfit to become parents or to own pets or adopt pets or children. Some people neglect and abuse their children. Some people are psychologically unstable and cant hold down a job or behave normally.
Your freedom ends where my nose begins. We have to agree to disagree at times. You run your show & leave me to run mine as long as I do not infringe on your rights. Its about mutual respect & understanding that all human people depend on nature & other people for survival.
In other words, we are all in this life on Earth together & rely on one another to live & thrive with families. Raising children is a community effort as all adults can play a part as parental figures to inspire children with edifying words of encouragement or to help the parents by reinforcing what the parents are telling their children to do. I am a School Bus Driver and understand this in a layered way on a personal level with platonic grandfather like concern for the children on my bus routes.
Be realistic and understand that coal power emissions are much worse as a climate changing problem that vehicle tailpipe emissions.
Jet-A burning aircraft & bad air quality, sound & light pollution near airports, these are problems that can be reduced with hydrogen fuel cell electric passenger aircraft with blended high aerodynamic efficiency designs that NASA shared with Boeing & Airbus freely, while the aluminum tube with wings design remains the dominate design of commercial aircraft today.
American's have thrown away enough aluminum foil to remake all the worlds airplanes some 20X over. Not discounting that the carbon-fiber intensive Boeing 787 uses radically less aluminum to get 2X better fuel economy than similar conventional aircraft that carry the same number of KG of cargo & passengers, such that 787 costs a lot more upfront at nearly $200 million vs only $130 million for cheaper alternatives that end up costing a lot more to operate in the end. This means that 787 ends up costing less during its operational life due to radially less fuel consumption, when you look at lifecycle costs or total costs of lifetime operation. A 787 fully loaded with passengers achieves over 168 MPG per person, much better than even a Prius Prime plug-in hybrid with only the driver inside.
Agriculture has huge emissions
Power production has huge emissions
Making renewable energy generation has huge emissions
Making food for 10 billion people has huge emissions
Moving enough trucks to enable logistics for 10 billion people has huge emissions
The giant scale of human activity has huge emissions
The most eco-friendly thing you can do is to stop eating meat, have no or fewer children, buy less, keep your vehicles longer, use your stuff until its dead till EOL or end of life. Be frugal or cheap or thrifty or smart like a profitable small business as a person.
Think brutal fiscal efficiency, or more bang for your buck. A used Nissan LEAF paid for out of pocket so no car payment can result in just $0.04 cents per mile of operating cost, less than half the operating cost of a Toyota Prius on $3.50/gal gasoline. Consider than the LEAF SV can go about 130 miles using $4 of electricity. What kind of gasoline car can go 130 miles on $4 of gasoline?
Sometimes less can be more. Buying less stuff can save you a ton of money. Using stuff you already have more can save you even more. Using less electricity can save you money on your utility bills by running your clothing washer on cold or cool modes instead of warm or hot, especially if you have an electric water heater like the apartment we live in does, such that hot water use costs a lot of money in increased electrical utility bill costs.
LED vs incandescent lamps can reduce your electricity use & utility bills.
Turning things off all the way, dark off, when they are not being used, like lights off manufacturing, you can go dark inside your home when you are sleeping, with a small red LED night light so you can see your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night without stumbling into stuff.
War is costly and wasteful. Consider all the people who are killed, all the buildings & vehicles damaged, the infrastructure, power plants, apartments, schools, hospitals hit by military rockets, what Russia doing to the Ukraine for example, that's not eco-friendly.
Oil refining using a ton of electricity & flaring causing tons of air pollution emissions. Oil spills are not eco-friendly. Burning gasoline or diesel not eco-friendly. Spent damaged wind power turbine blades are not eco-friendly.
There is no free lunch in physics!
Do you understand what I am talking about? Modern life is not sustainable the way people live in wealthy privileged countries also not natural or eco-friendly.
I consider modern American life insane for a lot of reasons. Consider all the sitting around & content abuse, video, games, clips, streaming, binging content, sedentary lifestyles of sitting around not moving very much also linked to increase risks of clotting, stoke & embolism or edema in the legs, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, anxiety, fear & depression.
A lot of the 24/7 news depressing or negative with a bias focus on things that are wrong in the world & outlooks about climate change & the future depicted as bleak or hopeless.
No wonder stress level are on the rise like suicide & depression rates & kidney failure from widespread dehydration since people do not drink enough water to stay hydrated & drink too much caffeine & alcohol which causes the body to eject water faster.
Carb heavy diets that cause Type 2 diabetes also cause the body to bind up water making it unable to get to cells and organs that need the water, like the kidneys, which often have to spill over sugar into the urine as a way of coping with high blood sugars, sometimes feeding bacterial that end up causing a painful burning irritating annoying UTI or urinary tract infection, sugar in the urine and high blood sugars also fuel candida fungal infections that makes women's vaginas itchy, burning, and smelly.
Yes, I am saying that high blood sugars increase the frequency & severity of vaginal yeast infections, in men high blood sugars cause night time sweating, athletes foot & jock itch fungal infections. High blood sugars are toxic to the vascular system & cause heart disease. Cancer cells proliferate more intensively in an cell environment with high sugar content, such that high blood sugar levels fuel cancer cell development, making cancer worse faster.
Sugar abuse is why so many people are dying of pancreatic cancer, sugar, starch, carbohydrate abuse, western diets of disease or diseases of civilization, say SAD or standard American diet of overprocessed junk food & ultra processed junk foods like canola oil that goes through 26 different manufacturing stages, the seed oils are like cooking your food in pesticide residue reside, or used motor oil or liquified plastic, its the trans fats that are really toxic. Eating too much sugar increases AGE or advanced glycation end products, raising red blood cell oxidation levels measured by the elevated HbA1C test.
Not enough fiber for the carb intake
Meals that are too large, large servings that are metabolically toxic
Not enough healthy fats, OMEGA 3, too much OMEGA 6 & 9 inflammatory
Not enough fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds or natural whole organic foods
To many processed junk foods & ultra processed food stuff.
I am thinking artificial dye, preservatives that most people cannot pronounce. I am thinking of weird chemicals added to processed foods that no one uses in their home kitchen. Herbicide, insecticide, fungicide, toxic carcinogens & heavy metals, microplastics, dust, fumes, smoke, junk, foul weird chemicals synthetic, not food, stuff added to enhance shelf life, coal tar, petrochemicals, chemical warfare like substances that keep bacteria, fungi & other pathogens from causing foods to spoil on the shelf, not good for your health, its all about making profits increases for the big food companies. Your the schmuck being played while they laugh at us at their country club golf events & social events your never going to be able to attend, except perhaps as the help.
Some indigenous peoples have a sustainable way of living in the Biosphere of Earth. In the rainforest of south America for example, some of the natives live in small groups of 50 people or less. They lack most modern technologies & live directly off of nature without any insurance, no credit score, no money, no running water, no electricity, no toilet, no toilet paper, nothing high tech, no gaming laptop, no steam games, no CS:GO, no school bus, no internet, no microwave, no appliances, no vacuum cleaner, no air or water filters or HVAC or air conditioning. No sanitation or hygiene. No toothpaste or toothbrushes or floss. No coffee, tea or peanut butter. These are some of my favorite things.
I think like a military industrial complex undergoing dematerialization & eco--friendly optimization, deep green and aspirational eco-friendly with highly efficient vehicles, but too many vehicles. I am trying to streamline & optimize so I can move to our micro-home, a 200sq ft tiny home on a 5 acre farm that we are to rent for $1200 per month in the near future.
We are putting much of our stuff & vehicles into storage that costs almost $600 per month. We imagine our next place as bridge to a different home after that for a year or so, noting that our lives are temporary or ephemeral. Everything temporary. Think about it. Rent or own, you still pay rent as property taxes. Homes can leak with plumbing problems, roof problems, siding problems, window problems, electrical problems, appliance failures, they are a risk, only thought of as an asset in economic climates where home prices climb continually. Earthquakes, forest fires & floods can wipe out single family homes, apartment complexes, condominiums. As the war in the Ukraine illustrates, nothing is safe from despot wackos overrun by demonic influence or control like Vladimir Putin.
Even if you live for 120 years, your still going to die & you cant take money or stuff with you into the afterlife. All the stuff in your life, gets left behind that other people have to deal with. So perhaps it makes more sense to buy less in the first place. Donate, recycle, trash, get rid of stuff your not using or every going to use. Think about what actually adds value to your life. What can you get rid of that will actually make you feel better.
1 Prius III (Hybrid 52 MPG regular gas real world) used for under $9k
1 LEAF SV (3.8-5.3 mi / kWh battery electric car) used for under $20K
1 2001 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro title transfer inherited pseduo free
1 Honda PCX150 scooter for under $4K
1 Yamaha MT-03 motorcycle under $6K
1 self balancing Ninebot Segway MP $1K
1 Hiboy S2 Pro electric kick scooter $630
1 1996 Marin bicycle (Meg) Free to use from Joyce & Sidd
1 newer Specialized Crossroads 2.0 bicycle (Aaron) $730
1 Lectric Pro Step-Through e-Bike (On the way) $1280
Thats a lot of vehicles to maintain, Geico insure, fix, repair, fuel, energize, store, take care of, clean, use / I am transportation crazy and even ride the local Metro Bus & Drive a Diesel School Bus as my job.
When I am talking about living with less, in a micro-home, I need a lot of reduction, to streamline & optimize more. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff. I am still thinking about it & will arrive at a lot of solutions soon. I love technology, but I love my wife & God more now :)
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